We are sneaking away for....

a little bit of this with the famous Coach Tom, 

for some celebration of sweet Kingston who will be turning 1 and will also be getting baptized,

and finally off to the north Georgia mountains for some r&r.

See you sometime in the middle of June.

"Alder the Barbarian"

This is my little barbarian. We threw this little nickname around when he was first born and now I am thinking of bringing it back. 

When he was born we quickly noticed this on the small of his back just above his bottom. We were told by both the doctors and Jared's mother that the Mongolian spot was completely normal....for dark-skinned children or ethnic babies. 

We assume that Alder inherited this from his great-grandfather's side of the family, the DeMoss family, who are Greek. In fact, Jared's grandfather was the first generation born in America after his mother and father fled from their homeland and immigrated to America through Ellis Island. Interesting story. 

Anyways, Alder has this spot and since it is "passed" down through Mediterranean blood, "Alder the Barbarian" just makes sense. I would like to take credit for the name except we have family friends who have a son with such a mark and came up with "Sumner the Barbarian" for him years ago. I am not quite sure if the spot has anything to how fearless, bold, intense, or wild Alder is but I like to think it does. Supposedly his Uncle Jackie had one when he was born. Enough said.

He runs ridiculously fast for being 2 (so we are told) and he is obsessed with exploring.

And climbing (which is so boy anyways) but we had to convince him to take the stick out of his mouth (looking like a dog) before he could run, jump, or climb the fallen trees.

My little barbarian, what will you be like when you grow-up?

Rebecca

This beautiful woman is my dearest friend. She is wise, patient, generous, full of love, quiet, calm spirited, and a wonderful mother and wife. We could not be more opposite from each other. Rebecca is full of grace and virtuous in every way. I am blessed to have such a dear friend. She is wife to an amazingly Godly man, who has an out-of-this world testimony and if I was not falling asleep (I slept a total of an hour and  half) as I write this I would share it with you. I WILL be back with that story.  

Erik is also a gifted doctor who just delivered their 8th child this morning at 3:33 am. That is right...8 children! I was there through the whole process and was able to take some wonderful pictures of Rebecca, Erik, and their beautiful, healthy baby boy. 

What a blessing it is the gift of children! Praise be to the Lord for such gifts! I honestly think of my little boys like that every single day. Maybe it because I tried for months to get pregnant or I see how (through the life of my Down Syndrome brother) it is such a miracle to have a healthy child. I am so undeserving of such wonderful and "perfect" little boys. 

Thank you Lord for such rich blessings in my life and in Rebecca's. 

The 8th One.

Sterrett James 

8lbs. 1oz. 19 1/2 in. 

born May 19th at 3:33 am.

Because learning to pee is easy....

its just the pulling up of the pants AND underwear that will get ya......

Water Babies, Roomies, and Cousins

My boys love love love water. They just simply cannot get enough of it. I realized this when I paid our water bill yesterday and it was $10 higher than it had been then the month before (due to of course playing outside with the hose, sprinkler, and splash pad (which then leads to dirty boys and this leads to more water use)). We will find out shortly how much Alder really loves water when we start swim lessons in just two weeks. These are not just any swim lessons. These are swim lessons on speed. They are taught by "Coach Tom" everyday for 8 days at 30 minutes per session. He has a very unique philosophy on children and swimming. It is kind of a "throw them in the water and they will eventually learn to hold their breath" kind of theory. I am sorry. That does not do it justice. He is (from what I have heard) very gifted at this whole swimming thing and I look forward to seeing how Alder does. Kind of cool though to think about having a 2 year old swimming this summer! Trust me. I am not crazy. I watched my 2 2 year old niece/nephew swim (for real swim) all last summer. I will let you know how it goes.

On the subject of making messes, I thought I would add this. I want to think that Alder, who knows messing with Ally's food and water are a major NO-NO is telling Kingston all about how bad a spanking hurts. I am sure he wasn't though.

I am happy to say though that these two partners in crime are now sharing the same room. We moved Kingston in with Alder a week ago. It really has been an easy transition, but I wish you could hear them at night trying to fall asleep. We can watch them on the monitor and see Kingston with his face pressed against the crib bars with an outstretched hand trying to reach his brother. We have caught Alder on several occassions trying to throw items from his crib into Kingston's. Funniest thing. In the mornings, I wake up to them just laughing and giggling together. I must say, it really has helped their little relationship. I think Alder just sees him now as older and not so much a little baby. Dada has even said that Alder no longer wants to cuddle up with him, rock, and pray for long periods of time because he is just so antsy to get in his crib and "play" with King King. 

And finally, we had cousins visit last week. Teddy and Wilder came to play. For some reason I do not have that many pictures, but I thought these were cute. After bath time both nights the water had a definite dirty color to it. How do boys manage to get so so messy? All four of them (age 3 and under) played and played. It is very sweet to see that even as young as they are, all the cousins seem to understand that cousins are special and different than just the friend at school or neighbor down the street. Alder was so excited when they arrived, he just kept screaming at the top of his lungs over and over and over again. We didn't do much and had no agenda. We ate, played, walked, threw rocks into the river, talked, ate some more, and ran through the sprinkler.

Wilder is 22 1/2 months, Kingston is 11 months, Teddy is 3, and Alder is 2. Wow! And Beth is due to have another one in November. 

"Messmaker, Messmaker, Find me a mess......"

While this one was making this mess outside, the other little one was making that mess inside. Oh me. 

I never do stop cleaning up their little messes. Yes, I get tired of bending over and picking it all up, putting it back in place, and then doing it all over again several times a day. It is tiring, but I learn so much about them as I clean up their little messes. Sounds strange, I know. 

As I clean up Alder's I can see his sheer intensity strewn about in the mess. I can see the focus he had in dismantling the parts and pieces. I can see where he did not stop to notice the world around him. I can see the passion. I can see how quickly it must have taken him and how frustrated he felt when an object did not bounce, fall, or hit the right way. 

As a mother I guess it is just kind of normal to notice these intimate details about the children that grew inside of you for 9 months, that nursed at your breast for months and months, that you spend 12+ hours a day with, and that you love with every ounce of your being.

I can tell in the messes that King King makes that he is slow. He is slow and calculated. He picks up every piece, every part and examines it. He will often rub it to his face (be it hard or soft) as if he is really trying to get to know it, its purpose, and its smell. King King can disappear into "dark corners" of the house quietly and make messes for the longest time. When I go to find him, call his name, and find him he often looks up at me, points his finger at me, and then looks back down at his "work". He has no interest in me picking him up and entertaining him. He is busy and so I leave him alone. I realize that although these antics of my little fellows may drive me batty they are learning so much, creating their own play, and their brains are just firing away in those precious heads of theirs.

WARNING: Materialistic Post Below

I really am NOT a clothes shoppers (I am sure my sister-n-laws, if reading this, are not believing such a statement, but it is really true.) I love clothes, but you have to have money to buy them and they really look best when you are not pregnant or covered in milk stains from nursing (sorry for the visual). So I admire them from a far and buy them when I have to (like weddings and the like), but I saw this dress when I was getting my hair cut today and instantly fell in love with it. I mean look at it. Its gorgeous. I love the sleeves, the "flowy-ness" of it, and the colors. I usually am not a flower person as far as clothes go but this is so delicately done. It looks like an impressionistic painting. The dress comes from H&M and I love the store, but the closest one to me is 4 hours away. H&M does not sell online and they do not take phone orders. What???? If I was the person in charge of H&M that would be my first objective: online shopping. 

Well, I came home and called the Atlanta store and she said that they sold out of it and for me to call H&M customer service in New York(which I was glad to do rather than my chores while the boys slept). I did and the lady told me that THIS dress sold out all across America on the first day it arrived into stores (March 23rd). She also told me (once again) that even if she did have it I could NOT buy it over the phone. What??? I still do not understand. They could make so much MORE money! Those European socialist need to get on the ball. 

Anywho, I am so crazy about this dress and I am going to search for it on Ebay, Craigslist, and send out an SOS on Facebook for it. Ok, really, I am NOT going to do (you can buy it now for $40 on Ebay) that because my life is so full of other things that are so much more important than the longing for material things such as this. It is fun to dream though. Check out the entire collection here and if you live close to an H&M-go shopping!

I love you dress even though I will never wear you.